The correspondence of Andrea Gabrieli, 1557–1585

This conference, which inaugurates the 2026 cultural season of the Dante Alighieri Society of Locarno, aims to rediscover a literary treasure that has re-emerged after four centuries: the “Letters” of Andrea Gabrieli, illustrious musician and organist of St Mark's Basilica, edited in the modern edition by Giuseppe Clericetti, who will recount the discovery of the precious manuscript. The collection offers a unique insight into 16th-century Venice: the correspondence is presented as a literary “forest”, and much of the material in the letters is the result of careful rewriting.

Giuseppe Clericetti is a long-standing voice on RSI's Rete Due radio station. Author of the critical edition of Andrea Gabrieli's organ compositions, Doblinger Musikverlag, 2002, he has published several essays for Editori Zecchini: Andrea Gabrieli's correspondence and four studies on French music, dedicated to the composers Charles-Marie Widor, Camille Saint-Saëns and Reynaldo Hahn. His recent biography of Claudio Monteverdi, Miracolosa bellezza (Miraculous Beauty), was published by Zecchini in 2023.